The film deals with a young singer, Rafael, who tired in performing songs in small theatres and villages decides to go Madrid to seek fame and fortune. There meets a journalist, Maria Jose Alfonso, to to be interested in Rafael and she helps him, using her influence to launch his career. Rafael rises to fame, becoming a prominent pop star and performs a large and successful tour across Spain. While Rafael walking on a bridge, under heavy rain, he meets a gorgeous girl, then he falls in love for her : the newcomer Margaret Peters.
A loving melodrama with a peculiar love story in similar style to Love story by Arthur Hiller. Stars Rafael, he is a famous singer who was born in Linares 1942. As a consequence, he is nicknamed both "El Ruiseñor de Linares" ("Nightingale of Linares") and "El Divo de Linares" ("The Divo from Linares") but is also known as "El Niño". His family moved to Madrid when he was nine months old, and he started singing when he was just three years-old. He joined a children's choir at age four. When he was 9, he was recognized as the best child voice in Europe at a contest in Salzburg, Austria. Raphael adopted his own peculiar singing style from the beginning; he is known for acting each one of his songs while on stage, emphasizing his gestures with high dramatic effect. It is not unusual for Raphael to ad lib lyrics as to localize a song depending on the venue he's singing at, wear Latin American peasant costumes and dance folk dances within a song, kicking and demolishing a mirror, or doing the moves of a flamenco dancer or a bullfighter onstage. He also possesses a wide vocal range, which he often used in the beginning of his career as to evoke a choirboy approach to some songs. His beginnings are similar to this film, as he goes Madrid where participates in broadcasting contests and after in Festival Benidorm where gets a big hit, from now on, he plays songs all around the world. In 1966 and 1967 he represented Spain at the XII and XIII Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg, singing "Yo soy aquél" and Vienna, "Hablemos del amor" and placing both 7th and 6th position, although he did not win. It was the first time that Spain obtained a high place in the competition. This served as a turning point in Raphael's career, making him an international star. He traveled and performed worldwide in Europe, Latin America, Puerto Rico, the United States, Russia and Japan. Songs such as "Yo soy aquel" (his signature song), "Cuando tú no estás", "Mi gran noche", "Digan lo que digan", "Tema de amor", "Estuve enamorado" and "Desde aquel día" cemented his status as a major international singing star. As Raphael became a success in Latin America, he made a habit of recording Latin American folk standards including "Huapango torero", "Sandunga" and "Llorona"; they were hits in Mexico. He even appeared live on The Ed Sullivan Show with great success. He performed very famous songs all over the world , such as : Escandalo, Tamborilero , Noche de paz , Blanca Navidad , Como yo te amo , and many others . He married aristocrat, journalist and writer Natalia Figueroa, in Venice (Italy) on 14 July 1972 and they have three children . Raphael's health faced a major setback in 2003, when his liver started failing due to a latent bout with Hepatitis B ; he recovered successfully after a transplant . Since then he is an active organ donation promoter. Rafael was directed by notorious filmmakers as Vicente Escriba in El Golfo, Sin un adios, El angel and Javier Aguirre in Volver a nacer. His last film was in 1975 directed by Antonio Isasi Isasmendi, a documentary titled Rafael en Rafael. Here Rafael is well accompanied by a fine support cast, such as Carlos Otero as a wannabe painter of Bohemian life, Pepe Nieto as a composer representative, Monserrat Julio and Maria Jose Alfonso as a gifted reporter.
It packs a nice score with wonderful songs composed by Manuel Alejandro. And an atmospheric cinematography by Juan Julio Baena, though a perfect remasterization being really necessary, that 's why the film copy is worn-out. The motion picture was well directed by Mario Camus, though in slow moving. He directed Rafael in 3 films , Al ponerse el sol , Digan lo que digan y Cuando tu no estas.
